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Torah Portion -
Terumah
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Written by Rafi Jager
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In the beginning of this week's Parsha, Hashem tells Moshe to "take for Me a portion" (Exodus 25:2) referring to the items which were to be brought for the construction of the Mishkan. The Sforno poses a very interesting question. If Hashem wanted the Jews to give a portion to the Mishkan, then why didn't Hashem say "give" instead of "take"?
The Sforno answers by saying that Hashem wasn't telling Moshe to go to all of the Children of Israel. He wanted Moshe to go to the Levites, the collectors of the materials to be used in the Mishkan, to tell them to go and take a portion from the Children of Israel. The directive was issued at the Levites and not the Jewish nation.
We can draw out an extremely important lesson from this understanding of the verse. One might think that only the person who gives charity gets a reward. But we must also realize that the person who works hard collecting the charity also deserves credit.
Good Shabbos!
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